Press Conference Quotes: Jimbo Fisher
After evaluating the film, very proud of our team, especially the way we competed in the game, I thought we persevered in a lot of different areas. I thought we grew in some areas, and hopefully we can carry that on in the future of how we prepare, how we play and our mindset to understand the reason to have success. I thought all three phases contributed very highly in the win and had some tough moments, which, you know, when you play a great opponent, they had their plays against our offense, defense our special teams, too.
But I thought overall we got out to a good start, which I thought was very important for our guys in the game early, that we gained confidence in being able to move the ball and get some stops in what we did, which I think was very important, both sides with the young players, and I think that's part of what you're starting to see. With the number of guys that we've had to play because of injuries and, you know, you start playing those guys in game, seven, eight, nine, 10 when you have injuries late in the year, they've had different practices, even though they haven't had playing time. But they understand the preparation and how to do things. You do it in the beginning of the year, with young guys? Sometimes that's very difficult. And sometimes you then have to get playing time and understanding a level which you have to compete at week in, week out. And I think that's what you're starting to see. Some of our young guys are growing, we're getting better, and they're understanding the standard at which they have to play to have success, on offense, defense, you know, all the young guys, you're playing, even special teams. And so we're growing. Now, there's a lot of growing still left to do because there's still a lot of mistakes out there on that field in that game. We played and won the football game and all that, but there's still a lot of things we got to clean up in what we're doing.
In the game itself, I thought our defense was very aggressive. I thought we affected the quarterback very well, especially in the first half. I think we're able to get pressure. Mike did a good job of dialing up pressures and our guys getting home and affecting the quarterback, moving him off his spot, got four or five sacks, but also got hits on the quarterback, clean hits that affected him in throws and things that matter. You have to be able to affect the quarterback. I thought we played the run for the most part really well, especially early. I mean, they had some runs, misfit a thing or two here and there, but I thought we were physical at the line of scrimmage.
I thought our young guys in the secondary competed very well in coverages, contested balls. And I think we did a tremendous job in the red zone, tight zone, even when they moved the ball. We were able to hold to non-touchdowns to be able to kick field goals. We got a critical turnover in the end zone on a great pick on a third down by Demani that was able to make that play. So I was very happy there. I thought late in the game, you know, I thought we really played really good football up until about the time it was 31-27. Then we got a little bit…I say the process of how to do things and playing the next play…we had a couple of missed assignments there that we didn't play as clean as we had been early, even though they still moved the ball. But our defense competed really hard in the game, and I think they played and made a big difference in the game. And then the critical two-minute stop at the end of the game, being able to get a great stop right there to get a 3-and-out to leave us over two minutes on the clock to be able to come down in two minute.
We’re learning to play the critical points in the game very well. After a big momentum swing, you were able to come back and do that. And I thought the other thing in the game, we did that in the game offensively, defensively, special teams, when they hit momentum, that time they had a little run there in the third quarter, but most of the time we were able to match or go back and forth in the things we did.
I thought offensively we did a good job up front. You’ve got two true freshmen playing and Blake Trainor playing a new position, we moved him to the guard a little bit to help with some depth. And those guys, I thought, battled and were very physical up front. I think we didn’t give up a sack, if I'm not mistaken. There's a couple of pressures and things we have, but not to give up a sack against some guys that can really rush and they blitz and bring a lot of pressures. I thought our running backs and tight ends did an excellent job in the chipping game that helped those guys to slow down the rush in picking up blitzes and what we did, which allowed our quarterback to have cleaner pockets, to be able to stand and be able to make throws and do the things we had to do there. I thought the running game, even though the numbers weren't outstanding, we were able to run the ball in critical times, short yardage situations, the beginning of the game to keep balance in the red zone, in the tight zone, we were able to run the football. The times when you really have to run the football, those are the occasions when you do, we were able to do that and our guys did a great job.
Our backs, I thought Achane and Spiller were excellent in the game in all phases whether it was catching, blocking, running. I thought they competed very well and there are still some runs they left out there, not a bad thing, just a couple of cuts that really could have been clean, but that happens when you play good people and things like that. I thought our tight end Wydermyer was excellent, did a great job in the blocking game, especially chipping in protection and got vertical down the field. Could have hit him a couple more times, but we didn’t, we found other guys. But I thought he keeps playing better and better.
I thought our receivers did a really good job. I thought Ainias did a really nice job in the game. Different parts of the game, of course, he scored two touchdowns. I thought 5, Preston, was good. Moose when he was in the game. I thought 1 Demas really had a couple of nice catches in the game to really complemented us very well. Getting 2 back out there, Chase, getting him back healthy was good, in the game, getting him playing, and we got to get him back in the mix and get going.
And I thought Zach played one of his better games. I mean, he started hot. And of course, you know, everybody wanted to love him and praise him, but listen. He did a good job of keeping his eyes up, he read coverage and got the ball out. He was being decisive on the decisions.
He was throwing the football well, we had a good mix of run and pass in the balance. And then he played with great toughness. He competed in the game. He got banged. He got bruised. He got off the mat. He didn't know he threw a touchdown when he got banged up. Came back, found out everything was fine with his leg, great. Comes back out, leads us to a two-minute drive. You know, I'm very happy for him to stay in the saddle, to stay in there. And like I say, when you're a quarterback, get all the glory and all the blame. When he was getting all the blame, it wasn't true. And right now he's getting all the glory, it's not true. You got to eliminate the clutter, block it out, come back and practice and prepare like you did last week and do the things you got to do to be able to go play. And that's important.
Special teams, I thought our punter did a really nice job in the game. The return game, the punt return game, we didn't get many chances in that regard. And unfortunately, we gave up a blocked punt. We had the right blocking scheme. We made a mistake in who we picked up coming through and made a bad choice and allowed them to do it, knew what the pressure was, and that was critical. To have a punt blocked and win a game? The odds of that are around 13 to 15 percent. They're not very high, when you get a punt blocked, especially for a touchdown, that you win a game. But we were able to do that. We were able to answer up. We've got to get that fixed. We know exactly what happened. We got it fixed at the time on the sideline and got that corrected. But that can't happen. Again, you give Achane one chance, and he hit it. But the more important thing, we blocked it well, we gave him the seam. We got the hat on a hat. We've gotten better and better. I know we’ve been close the last couple of weeks. And of course, he's one of those guys, when he gets grass, he can run. And that was very critical in the game. Seth was outstanding, of course. He hit field goals and hit his big kick and did what he had to do at the end of the game, that was very critical, one of the biggest moments in his life and very happy for him and the work he’s done. But there's still a lot of things in our cover game and things that we’ve got to get cleaned up in what we do.
But the important thing is now this game's over with. I’m tired of talking about it. It's over. Understand why we had success. Now, these things are lessons we've learned. They're wasted lessons unless we carry them on to this week. Missouri is a very tough place to play. They're an outstanding opponent in what they do. They play very good at their place. They play really well at home. Always have. 11 o'clock game in the morning, you have to get going early in the game. They're going to be right there, ready for us, waiting to knock us off. And like I say, right now, this is the perfect thing, as Nick said last game. This is a trap game. You listen to all this stuff all week and you live in the past…that's over with, man. That's over with. Yesterday. Today is all Missouri. We got to play well. And those things don't mean anything if you aren’t able to learn from your lessons and carry into the next week. And we play it one week at a time, one game at a time in the reason that we have success. That's going to be our challenge and that's going to be the thought going forward right now.
You've talked in the past about how there are things that your team has to learn, and this last weekend you guys learned how to beat the best. I know that you said you're not going to focus on that, but how important is that?
I’m going to focus on it, the reasons why we had success, just like the reasons you have failure. I mean, like you guys write an article on the outcome of the game, which is what you do. And fans really like that. I’ve got to look at why the outcome of the game was good or bad. That's the reality we have to live in. So we're going to feature in our meetings the things we did well and why we did them well. It's education. It's an educational process, just like you're teaching the student and in school. And that's what we're doing here. We're teachers. Educate guys why you do it, get them to replicate it and do it over and over again at the same level and have the same mindset and intensity and focus to do those things. I'm not going to, well, that was Alabama and we beat Alabama, walk around with our chest out. We played an opponent who was a very good opponent and we had success. Now, why did we do it? So now we can go do it again in Missouri, South Carolina, at Auburn, Ole Miss, whoever we have left on the schedule. And that's what we're going to do.
What are the strengths that Missouri presents that you guys are going to need to focus on this week?
They provide different pressures. They blitz. They can they mix up their coverages on defense. On offense, Eli, he does a great job. His running schemes, his counters, his stretches, his play action. He's a great trick play guy. He's always got eye violations and constant motions and things he does. They're very dynamic on offense. They're physical on defense. The front plays very hard. Linebackers can run. Secondary guys, they lost one corner here recently, but the safeties they tackle well. They play very good at home. I mean, there's a ton of things we can go on and on and on about. The special teams are good. I mean, Missouri is a good football team. They took Kentucky to, it was 28-28. There's another game in there too…now Tennessee, they had a bad outing in that game. Tennessee got ahead and got a jump on ‘em. But every other game, they had a chance to win the game. They could be sitting there 5-1 just as they are 3-3. Very much like us.
Coach, how difficult is it to avoid letting your team play up or down to their level of competition?
They quit reading y’all, turn social media off and listen to me, it wouldn't be hard at all. And do what they're told to do, it wouldn't be hard (laughing). If they listen to y’all, and listen to everybody that pats them on the back and everybody at home, it becomes a tough thing. And I joke about that because that's the ‘eliminate the clutter’. Guys, you’ve got to understand who to listen to. You got to understand the world you’re in. And it takes maturity. It takes maturity. It takes leadership. It takes trust. It takes everything. And that's the hard part about everything you do with kids. And with grownups. Everything you do. And that's the challenge. People who can stay focused, no matter who your opponent is, that's what I'm talking about. Your opponent's faceless. It's your standard, based on nothing else. You match the standard.
I know you do what's best for your team, but what position do you think Kenyon (Green) fits best or is most comfortable?
With him, know what he's going to tell you? Wherever the team needs me. And that's not cliché. He is the most selfless, one of the most selfless, great players I've ever been around as far as his willingness to do whatever his team needs him to do. He's a throwback in what he does. I think he's a tackle. I do, because of his arms and length, but he has power and there's very few people that have the ability to play all those positions and do well. And what he’s doing now is increasing his value to the next level, in my opinion, because people are going to see him at different things. And you have to do that. Up there? you can't find linemen, guys. You keep eight on a rotation in the NFL that are active at the time. And you got a guy that can play all three? Two or three positions? Four positions? The value of his stock goes through the roof.
How hard is it for guys like Bryce (Foster) and Deuce (Fatheree), as true freshmen, to do what they're doing in the SEC?
In this league? It's unbelievable. It really is. And I've had freshmen do it, one guy do it, around a bunch of veterans. Not the multitude of guys in the way they're having to do it. I mean, it's a heck of a deal. The injuries have hurt us and what we've had to do and had to put them in situations, unfortunately, I don't want to put them in, but I've got to put them in. And they have been unbelievably tough, mentally tough. The part of it is the mental preparation and toughness and the fortitude to go through that pressure and knowing that everything is going to revolve off you making your blocks, because that allows the skill guys to play. It's been amazing. And making all the calls that Bryce and those guys are doing? It’s been amazing. Absolutely amazing. A lot of respect for those guys. Tough.
